Ballarat Mayor loses top job

There was a surprise result in the Ballarat council elections, with Mayor Mark Harris failing in his bid for re-election.

Councillors Des Hudson, John Phillips and Samantha McIntosh were all re-elected.

Other successful candidates include Belinda Coates, Vicki Coltman and John Burt.

In Warrnambool, Mayor Jacinta Ermacora has been returned, with 14 per cent of the primary vote.

Councillors Michael Neoh, Peter Hulin and Rob Askew will also return to the Warrnambool council.

The city will welcome some newcomers including Brian Kelson Kylie Gaston and Peter Sycopoulis.

Mr Sycopoulis says he wants to see openness and transparency and wants to see a lot get done.

Jenniffer Lowe and John Harris will leave the council.

South-west

Meanwhile, there are plenty of newcomers at other shires in state's south-west.

The Southern Grampians, Colac-Otway and Corangamite councils will all have new faces.

The most successful candidates include Hepburn's Don Henderson, who won nearly 40 per cent of ballots cast.

Cr Henderson says he stood again as he felt there was still work to be done.

He says the biggest challenge facing the shire is financial.

"I think we have come along way in the way we do things, we've got proper procurement policies, we've got proper ways in which we let contracts," he said.

"I was unhappy with the way we did those things before but I am happy at the way we do those things now, we are getting better at what we do."

In the Moyne Shire, Mayor Jim Doukas took 22 per cent of the vote, while former Corangamite mayor Ruth G'Strein polled 35 per cent of the vote in Central Ward.

Cr G'Strein says she is confident the three new representatives on the council will fit in quickly.

She says it is a long time since the Corangamite Shire has seen such a high turnover of councillors.

"Three councillors out of the seven is the biggest change we have had ... I really don't have any problems at all with having three new councillors around the table and I am really looking forward to hearing about their ideas and their opinions," she said.

Meanwhile, in the Central Goldfields, the shire has seen the surprise departure of Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor.